How Far We've Come
by Autumnnight99
Summary: The Konoha 12 are out of options, about to run headlong into what Kurama knows is a suicide mission. He's not about to let his Kit and his Kit's family die, not when he has the ability to do something about it. And that something just happens to be catapulting the souls of the only 12 remaining members of the Shinobi Alliance into the past to their genin days.


**Hey everyone, sorry for being gone so long! I've had a weird couple of months and barely any time to get any writing done. I'll try to get back into it as much as I can.**

 **So, anyway, here's a new story that I was inspired to write just out of the blue. I hope you enjoy!**

 **Summary:**

 **The Konoha 12 are out of options, about to run headlong into what Kurama knows is a suicide mission. He's not about to let his Kit and his Kit's family die though, not when he has the ability to do something about it. And if that something just happens to be catapulting the souls of the only 12 remaining members of the Shinobi Alliance into the past to their genin days? Well, Kurama would sacrifice eternal life for his kit, he doesn't have to think twice, damn he consequences.**

 **Pairings:**

 **Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura, others to be decided.**

 **Warnings:**

 **Don't know yet.**

* * *

Naruto awoke to light filtering through a window, his eyes stayed shut, no muscles tensed and his breathing was soft and even.

His first thought, _where the hell am I?_

He stretched out his senses, looking to identify his surroundings. He was in a room, lying on something soft, _a bed_ , his mind supplied. There was no one in the room with him, which was worrying in and of itself.

Where were his ever present companions?

Trying to feel for the chakra of his family, Naruto's eyes snapped open in shock. There were thousands of chakra signatures outside of the walls of the building he was in.

His eyes locked onto the cracked plaster ceiling above him causing Naruto to sit up in alarm. He knew that ceiling. He had counted the cracks in it hundreds of times when he was a kid.

Tearing his eyes away from the ceiling, Naruto slowly looked around the room he was in, his mind starting to form a conclusion of how exactly he had ended up there.

 _But no, that's crazy!_ he thought.

Shaking away his thoughts, Naruto stood up and, about to try to disprove his new theory, formed the ram sign, flared his chakra, and shouted, "Kai!"

Seeing that nothing happened, Naruto sighed. There was only one way he could have ended up there.

" _Kurama,"_ Naruto thought. " _What did you do?!"_

A deep, rumbling voice answered Naruto from the depths of his mind, soothing his nerves.

" _Calm, Kit. I've sent you and your friends back to your genin days. I couldn't just sit back and watch you and your little family commit suicide when I could do something about it."_

" _Suicide? We were sacrificing ourselves to end the war, Kurama! It was a perfectly valid plan to stop Madara!"_

" _No, Kit. Everyone else was dead. There would have been no one left after your death. I know you were tired. You were all so, so tired. And you just wanted it to stop. Ten years of war and only twelve survivors? You were going out there to end it all. I get it. I was tired too. But kit, you're mine. And your family is mine, too. Kitsune protect their own, fiercely, you should know this by now. There was no conceivable way that I would let you and yours die. Not when I could do something about it."_

" _Kurama..."_

" _You're mine, Kit, all of you. I will do whatever I can to keep you healthy, happy, and safe. I would sacrifice my very existence to see you safe. Using most of my chakra to throw your soul back in time to your younger body? It meant keeping you and yours alive, there was no choice."_

A single tear escaped Naruto's eye to roll down his cheek. " _Thank you, Kurama."_

The bijuu smiled. " _Always, Kit. Always."_

* * *

"So," Naruto started, hopping onto his feet from his sitting position on his bed. "First things first. Let's see what day it is."

Taking a few shaky steps, having to adjust to having shorter limbs again, Naruto walked slowly through his small apartment over to the calendar hanging on the wall in his kitchen. Looking at the date, he blanched.

"It's team placement day?!"

And, quickly looking for a clock, he found there was only twenty minutes left until he had to be at the academy. Disregarding his uncoordinated limbs, Naruto rushed through his morning routine, jumping in and out of the shower, brushing his teeth, and rushing to his closet where he stopped short.

So. Much. Orange.

During the first months of the war, Naruto's orange and black jumpsuit had been reduced to practically nothing. He had taken to wearing darker colors, blacks and blues, even some bronze. A mix that he later found to be the colors of his mother's homeland, Uzushiogakure.

And, after the death of Tsunade a year into the war, when he had been named Rokudaime Hokage and leader of the Shinobi alliance, Naruto had been gifted with a last gift from his late Baa-chan and his first Sensei, Kakashi. A mantle in the colors of Uzu, black as midnight with blue flames licking along the bottom edge, and the Namikaze and Uzumaki Clan Symbols in bronze on his back and the kanji for nine over his heart. Naruto had been so touched with the gift that he lovingly interwove seals into the fabric to preserve it, spending nearly all his free time for months obsessed with making sure it wouldn't and couldn't be ruined.

And hadn't it been a surprise to him when he had started learning seals and picked it up immediately, the theory and application feeling so very natural to Naruto from the first moment Jiraiya had started to explain the basics to him. And now, after so long of practice and constant use of his sealing skills in the middle of a war, Naruto had long ago surpassed Jiraiya and his father, Minato. According to that bastard Madara, who had fallen prey to his traps and attacks using seals many times during those ten years, Naruto even surpassed the legends like Uzumaki Mito.

But back to the problem of clothing, Naruto's closet was filled with hideous orange jumpsuits. While debating the merits of actually putting on one of the jumpsuits that were so bright his every instinct screamed at him to burn them to ash, a memory surfaced. Spurred into action, Naruto started digging around in his drawers until he found a pair of black shinobi pants and a blue and black t-shirt, a gift from the Sandaime Hokage, his Jiji, Sarutobi Hiruzen, for Naruto's 12th birthday.

Throwing the clothes on and remembering to grab his hitai-ate, Naruto slipped on his shinobi sandals and jumped out his bedroom window. He had ten minutes left to make it to the academy and, if he rushed, he would just barely make it in time.

On his way there, Naruto spread out his senses, looking for the chakra signatures of his family, those who had stayed by his side and supported him through everything. He found them at the academy, eight of them inside and three hovering nearby. All eleven signatures were anxious, but excited.

And he could tell the second they sensed him coming.

A smile lit up Naruto's face as the worried edge to his family's chakra signatures started to smooth out the closer he got to the academy. They were worried about him, being the only one not there.

And even after ten years of being loved and cherished, of fighting and breathing side by side with them, it still warmed his heart to know he actually had a family.

And he wouldn't let that change anytime soon.


End file.
